Beyoncé is up in arms against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in a petition filed at the United States Tax Court contesting the nearly $2.7 million/Ksh361 million taxes and penalties the agency claims she owes.
The 41-year-old singer petitioned for the court to reconsider a January Notice of Deficiency assessed by the IRS.
The notice claimed that Beyoncé owes over $1.4 million in additional tax and over $288,000 in penalty for 2019. For 2018, it alleged the singer owes about $805,000 in additional tax and $161,000 in penalty, according to Forbes.
Beyoncé, in her 20-page petition, argues that IRS refused millions of dollars in deductions, including $868,766 attributable to a charitable contribution carryover from 2018.
According to the documents, Beyoncé also alleges that penalties shouldn’t apply to any owed taxes as she “has acted reasonably and in good faith.”
After the January notice was filed, Jay Z’s wife had 90 days to file a petition contesting the IRS. Although the agency has assessed that 20% of the underlying amount of tax is due, petitioners usually don’t have to pay until the case has been settled, per Forbes.
Beyoncé is currently gearing up to kick off her Renaissance tour on May 10th. According to Billboard, the tour could make her at least $275 million.
The megastar isn’t the first celebrity to fight back against claims they owe multimillion tax fines to the government.
In July 2022, prosecutors in Spain charged singer Shakira with six counts of tax fraud and accused the star of failing to pay millions in taxes in Spain.
